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Adamantine
Worried for his daughter’s future after a catastrophic disease ravaged humanity, brilliant scientist, James Walker, found a way to measure human consciousness and crafts the ultimate weapon to watch over his little girl: A sentient AI charged with the task of protecting her when is no longer able to do so. His creation, Will, is bestowed with an expansive intellect, superhuman strength, and a fierce protective streak.
Tucked away in the heart of the Allegheny Mountains in a rustic log cabin, they live modestly off their sparse resources; hunting game, recording Turing tests on an old camcorder, and bonding over 80s movies.
At eighteen, Molly knows little of the world beyond a collection of grainy VHS classics. Life with Will and James is idyllic. However, as the years go by, Molly finds something more profound than ‘sibling love’ growing for Will, whose feelings also start to change from duty and service to something else. But Will’s mission to protect involves keeping dangerous secrets, including some that could destroy the trust between them forever. Will struggles with the rigid self-discipline of his programming, versus turbulent, irrational feelings that grow stronger each day.
True love can’t exist without honesty and risk; the two things Will has been programmed to control at all costs. But trouble is brewing outside their sheltered utopia, and ignorance might be a luxury neither of them can afford any longer.
Tucked away in the heart of the Allegheny Mountains in a rustic log cabin, they live modestly off their sparse resources; hunting game, recording Turing tests on an old camcorder, and bonding over 80s movies.
At eighteen, Molly knows little of the world beyond a collection of grainy VHS classics. Life with Will and James is idyllic. However, as the years go by, Molly finds something more profound than ‘sibling love’ growing for Will, whose feelings also start to change from duty and service to something else. But Will’s mission to protect involves keeping dangerous secrets, including some that could destroy the trust between them forever. Will struggles with the rigid self-discipline of his programming, versus turbulent, irrational feelings that grow stronger each day.
True love can’t exist without honesty and risk; the two things Will has been programmed to control at all costs. But trouble is brewing outside their sheltered utopia, and ignorance might be a luxury neither of them can afford any longer.
Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 17, 2020
3 stars
I hate to give three stars to a book especially when I read a new author. Because these three stars say that I liked the book but also that I was looking for more.
Let’s try to be structured here and sort between the good and the “I wanted something more”.
-The surprise!
I thought I had this book figured out and where the plot would take us but as I reached around 40% of the book, there was a catch and an interesting plot twist!
Then, even further in the book, another big plot twist!
-The topic
Not many romance books talk about AI and androids. I don’t know enough about artificial intelligence to know if everything Rosie Weir wrote here is accurate but if it is, she did an amazing job researching everything.
You also have the big question of what makes a human human, of the soul and of what is love and what are emotions. Can a machine like Will genuinely love another being? If he feels and hurts, does that make him human somehow?
Will is handsome and if he has the body and intelligence of a grown man, he’ll have to experience and feel the world like a toddler and grow into his emotions. I really like the idea of an AI able to write his own code and determining who he wants to be.
Will’s creator James gave him free will and that reminds me a lot of God’s decision to grant free will to humans!
-The characters or rather, the connection with them
I can’t put my finger on what exactly did not work as I hoped but I could not totally connect with the characters. Yet they had a personal growth, their blossoming feelings was lovely to witness but …something prevented me to really walk into their shoes.
Molly is rather young and naive in the beginning but that fits with her persona of having been raised in the woods, far away from any human except her father and her only companions an AI, a dog and some roosters. She has been sheltered all her life and writing her any other way like a sophisticated girl for example wouldn’t have rang true!
She still made me laugh when she discovered some “special” book in a bunker and it was really well done as a scene!
-The path that novel followed past the 65% mark.
It was a little bit too much, too extreme for me and that’s when the author lost me. It became too “science fictiony” if I may say so.
All in all, you can guess that you have the birth of a love story, very insightful questions about feelings, soul and what makes us able to love and interesting twists that will launch the story into a totally unexpected direction! If you are able to fall into these character’s life better than I did, I think your read will go from pleasantly interesting to very enjoyable!
Do you love books with AI? Or science fiction?
Thanks for reading!
Sophie
Find me on:
Wordpress: Beware Of The Reader
Facebook: Beware Of The Reader
Facebook group : Beware Book Boyfriends Alert
Instagram: @bewareofthereader
Twitter: @BewareOffReader
I hate to give three stars to a book especially when I read a new author. Because these three stars say that I liked the book but also that I was looking for more.
Let’s try to be structured here and sort between the good and the “I wanted something more”.
The good first:
-The surprise!
I thought I had this book figured out and where the plot would take us but as I reached around 40% of the book, there was a catch and an interesting plot twist!
Then, even further in the book, another big plot twist!
-The topic
Not many romance books talk about AI and androids. I don’t know enough about artificial intelligence to know if everything Rosie Weir wrote here is accurate but if it is, she did an amazing job researching everything.
You also have the big question of what makes a human human, of the soul and of what is love and what are emotions. Can a machine like Will genuinely love another being? If he feels and hurts, does that make him human somehow?
Will is handsome and if he has the body and intelligence of a grown man, he’ll have to experience and feel the world like a toddler and grow into his emotions. I really like the idea of an AI able to write his own code and determining who he wants to be.
Will’s creator James gave him free will and that reminds me a lot of God’s decision to grant free will to humans!
The “I wanted more”
-The characters or rather, the connection with them
I can’t put my finger on what exactly did not work as I hoped but I could not totally connect with the characters. Yet they had a personal growth, their blossoming feelings was lovely to witness but …something prevented me to really walk into their shoes.
Molly is rather young and naive in the beginning but that fits with her persona of having been raised in the woods, far away from any human except her father and her only companions an AI, a dog and some roosters. She has been sheltered all her life and writing her any other way like a sophisticated girl for example wouldn’t have rang true!
She still made me laugh when she discovered some “special” book in a bunker and it was really well done as a scene!
-The path that novel followed past the 65% mark.
It was a little bit too much, too extreme for me and that’s when the author lost me. It became too “science fictiony” if I may say so.
All in all, you can guess that you have the birth of a love story, very insightful questions about feelings, soul and what makes us able to love and interesting twists that will launch the story into a totally unexpected direction! If you are able to fall into these character’s life better than I did, I think your read will go from pleasantly interesting to very enjoyable!
Do you love books with AI? Or science fiction?
Thanks for reading!
Sophie
Find me on:
Wordpress: Beware Of The Reader
Facebook: Beware Of The Reader
Facebook group : Beware Book Boyfriends Alert
Instagram: @bewareofthereader
Twitter: @BewareOffReader
March 17, 2024
Very good style and attaching characters.
The author clearly knows her tropes and has references.
But in the end it's a story focusing on a the heroine feeling good more than on the romance, or on the AI. After all, the AI is not written like one at all: where it comes to show an not to tell, Will is a human who just happen to have been created by another, despite of what the characters say.
Also, since the creature's relationship to his creator could have benefited from a bit more focus (in the only scene when their are alone either their don't discuss Will or they discuss only the heroine. But Will never get to question his creator, to question his identity. No, he just behaves like a full fledged human.
This book said the construction was sentient. It didn't tell that, by sentient it meant exact human sentience, but given the popularity of the pinoccio trend, maybe I should have expected that.
The development of the plot was not what the settings at the biginning let me expect: the whole big picture plot with the antagonist AI felt like a simple Devil Ex Machina to me, and I couldn't quite buy into it.
If we could pretent that this is was not about an AI at all, but like a human clone made by the heroine's father, the characters and the romance would have made more sense. This would be a more than pretty nice romantic story, and it would easily deserve five stars, I think.
The author clearly knows her tropes and has references.
But in the end it's a story focusing on a the heroine feeling good more than on the romance, or on the AI. After all, the AI is not written like one at all: where it comes to show an not to tell, Will is a human who just happen to have been created by another, despite of what the characters say.
Also, since the creature's relationship to his creator could have benefited from a bit more focus (in the only scene when their are alone either their don't discuss Will or they discuss only the heroine. But Will never get to question his creator, to question his identity. No, he just behaves like a full fledged human.
This book said the construction was sentient. It didn't tell that, by sentient it meant exact human sentience, but given the popularity of the pinoccio trend, maybe I should have expected that.
The development of the plot was not what the settings at the biginning let me expect: the whole big picture plot with the antagonist AI felt like a simple Devil Ex Machina to me, and I couldn't quite buy into it.
If we could pretent that this is was not about an AI at all, but like a human clone made by the heroine's father, the characters and the romance would have made more sense. This would be a more than pretty nice romantic story, and it would easily deserve five stars, I think.
July 1, 2020
Adamantine is quite short but fairly fast-paced, had I started it earlier in the day instead of at night I would've finished it in one sitting. I was pleasantly surprised by this book, however I do wish that the background and basis surrounding it was explored and explained with a little more depth. Specifically, the technological advances that are seen within the book. The world that James, Molly and Will live in doesn't come with a lot of background information - even after the surprises in the plot. The only year mentioned was that the first "android" was built in the 1920's but as far as the year the story takes place in is anybody's guess. It would be interesting to have more of an explanation into James' past, his condition and what it stemmed from.
The romance aspect throughout the book is pretty mild and uses typical descriptions seen in romance novels of what the two characters happen to be doing. Since they are indeed isolated and the only members of the opposite sex it seemed a little obvious something would grow between Molly and Will. They could have went the route of older brother and younger sister but being as they're not related and she was raised knowing it. If you didn't know Will was a sentient AI capable of making his own decisions he would come across as entirely human - even if he has to remind himself of certain things humans cannot do. It reminds me of The Institute from Fallout 4 and a little of Nick Valentine's character.
I could see Adamantine having a sequel and I would definitely consider reading it to find out where Molly and Will wind up after the end of the book as well as the possibility of more background information regarding the world in which they live. The end is definitely open-ended and could transition into a second book. Thank you to Inkslinger PR and Rosie Weir for the opportunity to read Adamantine as a digital ARC - all opinions are my own.
The romance aspect throughout the book is pretty mild and uses typical descriptions seen in romance novels of what the two characters happen to be doing. Since they are indeed isolated and the only members of the opposite sex it seemed a little obvious something would grow between Molly and Will. They could have went the route of older brother and younger sister but being as they're not related and she was raised knowing it. If you didn't know Will was a sentient AI capable of making his own decisions he would come across as entirely human - even if he has to remind himself of certain things humans cannot do. It reminds me of The Institute from Fallout 4 and a little of Nick Valentine's character.
I could see Adamantine having a sequel and I would definitely consider reading it to find out where Molly and Will wind up after the end of the book as well as the possibility of more background information regarding the world in which they live. The end is definitely open-ended and could transition into a second book. Thank you to Inkslinger PR and Rosie Weir for the opportunity to read Adamantine as a digital ARC - all opinions are my own.
June 19, 2020
Ok I really wanted to give this 5 stars but I just wish the detail in the connection between Will the AI James built and Molly, I know growing up together will make some fall but is he made so good that you really couldn't tell he was AI or did Molly's love not care .
The storyline was awesome, the characters even more I just wished for that one bit.
The storyline was awesome, the characters even more I just wished for that one bit.
August 10, 2020
I find myself getting more and more into sci-fi, so no surprise that I enjoyed Adamantine! The twists and turns, along with the action and touch of romance, kept me turning the pages. I loved the interplay between humanity and AI. Looking forward to continuing the story and the series!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews